which dropable seat post?

fletch1004

im looking at a droppable seat post for my Santa Cruz Blur LT Carbon and before anybody says this is madness because of the extra weight so why put it on a carbon bike after spending all that money for a lighter frame im only going to be using the seat post for more technical / freeride trips and not full time,

im considering the Spesh command post or the crank bros joplin post but if anybody has a higher opnion of any other brand id like to hear it.

so the question is: what would you recomend???

ads4

The new 4" Joplin is supposed to have a lot of the faults of the 2009 model fixed, however there were a lot of problems reported with that model I have not heard of any probs with the Spesh command post and that's the one I would get for my bike...and I will be getting it soon Three stage adjustment too

And a remote seatpost is shown on the LTc in the pic in the WMB do-it-all section, looks fine to me 8)

grumsta

They all have reliability issues (including the Spesh one - big thread with lots of people with problems on mtbr) - Gravity Dropper is the most reliable/easiest to fix if it goes wrong as it's all mechanical.

Tom Barton

I found the old Joplin with only 3" travel wasn't enough as I'm 6'3" and needed the extra travel - I know the new one has 4" - there's still play in the new Joplin but apparently you don't notice it when riding.

I have a cobra i900 remote version which is great - did need to have a bearing sorted that scratched the stanction but all sorted very quickly under warenty and now fixed with the updated parts. The lever assembly under the saddle is not without it's flaws and takesvery little to grind it to a halt - I have fashioned a cover for it under my saddle and over the seatpost clamp out of a small plastic bag and a couple of zipties - looks tidy if you take your time but I haven't had to worry about the reliabily for nearly 2 months riding now!

Spesh post has the best remote lever by far.

Gravity dropper is industrial but equally bomb proof - I believe it's heavier too..

Anonymous

my joplin is considerably more reliable than the maverick version i used to have.

it is complete with home servicing instructions form the manfacturer but ive not needed to do anything other than a wipe down.

the weight is more than made up for by how big a difference it makes to your ride.

lock1981

ks i900 is reviewed as the best. and i think they have a lighter version coming out soon and i think its 5 inch drop

Northwind

KS has had phenomenal reliability problems though. I like Tom's post- "It's great, OK it broke, oh and the lever needs to have a bodgey cover added to keep it working, but I've not worried about it breaking for 2 whole months" Though to be fair they're good when they work, they look ace, and the 5 inch drop is definately better than my gravity dropper... And it seems like the revised internals actually do work, but my mate's one has been repaired, replaced and repaired again and still doesn't work reliably.

Which is still what I recommend, Gravity Dropper Turbo. It has a rep for heaviness but guess what, it's almost 100g less than the KS, and lighter than the command post and joplin- it just looks heavy. As for reliability, I'm yet to make it do anything wrong despite crashing onto it hard enough to break my saddle right off its rails, and this:



(a day spent swinging off a gondola at Fort William )

Sure, it's ugly but it's very effective. It does have a fair amount of play if you pedal with it in the down position, and I know some people hate that so it's worth mentioning, but it's not actually a problem, it just feels a bit odd. In the extended position, there's a tiny amount but I only notice it if I feel for it.

Oh, and great service from the company if you need parts (though it does mean fairly expensive shipping from the states), they look simple to service(never had to do it yet) and all the spares are available seperately, mostly at sensible prices. (for example, the upgrade kit for the Descender, to add the remote and turn it into a Turbo, is $75- about the difference between the 2 versions in the first place)

Oh, and if you want multiple settings, you can add extras just by drilling a hole in the post